


Phantom Thieves! Adventures of Lucky Red and Chat Noire

by ShinySilverMirror



Series: Miraculous Phantom Thieves! [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien "I got this" Agreste is the one leading this thing, Adrien is horrible at name schemes, Chat!Marinette, F/M, Gen, I took the whole Akuma possessing object canon and twisted it to my own needs, Kwami Swap, Ladybug!Adrien(LuckyRed), Marinette just wants her partner to stop sometimes, No Hawkdad, Nooroo actually gets to be happy, Phantom Thieves AU, Some things may have been taken from persona 5, because these dorks won't let me make it too serious, kiss most of canon goodbye, like if you think it's from there it probably is, look me in the eyes and tell me Adrien would not be like this if he got to be a phantom thief, no Hawkmoth, only not because he's a dork and she loves him the way he is, this thing isn't even remotely near being a serious piece of work, well not a present Hawkmoth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2019-08-03 20:50:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 17,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16333232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinySilverMirror/pseuds/ShinySilverMirror
Summary: Snapshots of the life and adventures of Lucky Red and Chat Noire as they learn and gain their notoriety as Phantom Thieves out to steal and purify tainted artifacts. As well as trying to balance a life of semi-crime, (Is it really a crime if they give the item back once it's been purified?) high school, and being fifteen with all that entails.





	1. His Origins: Lucky Red Appears!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The birth of Lucky Red (though he doesn't get a name just yet)

It had been three weeks since Adrien had found the small black box that had held, what seemed to be, two plain silver ear clasps. The type worn on the top curve of your ear, and something that had taken quite a few moments of fast talking for him to be able to keep them on during photoshoots. (They had created a trend within a week and his father used that to make it seem like it was the plan from the start.) Three weeks since they had flashed and a little red with black spots creature had appeared in front of him and had happily told him he was her next chosen Phantom Thief.

There may or may not have been some dignity destroying flailing for a few moments when that had registered, because all his years of watching anime was clearly meant for this moment.

He had baulked a little at first at the thought of stealing things, because he had morals and could never see himself as someone that would willingly steal, but Tikki had assured him that most of her ladybugs in the past had returned whatever item had been stolen once the negative energy had been cleansed from it. And that had made him giddy as well because he was actually going to help protect Paris, and even the world.

That didn’t start right away though, no those three weeks were mostly him getting used to transforming (He had a transformation, he was never going to get over that.) and learning how to move around and figuring out what he could and couldn’t do while in his suit. Even learning how to use the whole Lucky Charm aspect on various muggers and robbers he would come across before jumping away again. Even the baton that felt natural to have as a weapon in his hand he practiced with just to make certain he was ready for anything.

It was at the end of the fourth week that he ran into her.

The sounds of the Parisian streets had become a well known background noise to him as he vaulted from one roof to another by this point he could filter it all out and still hear if anything he needed to look into happened. Which was why he was confused when one simple sound had made him come to a screeching halt on a roof as if someone had slammed down on actual brakes.

_Ding_

Bells were not an uncommon sound, from the chimes of clocks tolling the hour, bells above doors jangling as someone new entered or left a building, and even the clinking of tags or actual bells on pet collars as cats roamed or dogs were walked down the dusk covered streets. So he was confused by why this particular bell had caused such a reaction in him. Until he turned towards the noise and saw someone crouched on a chimney stack looking away from him.

Dark black cat ears that seemed to be made out of a mixture of leather and velvet sat on top of a head of black, almost blue hair. Flickering as if actual ears at various sounds and so large that it was almost comical if not for the fact they came off completely adorable in Adrien’s mind. There was an acid green silk bow around a pale neck with a large silver bell nestled in the hollow of her throat and as her head tipped to the side he heard that distinct chime once again despite there being two rooftops between them. The black leather coat with acid green accents and silver fasteners hugged her chest before flaring out at her hips and ending almost skirt like to her knees. A black ribbon wound around her waist like a belt and ended behind her like a tail, the end diamond tipped with a green stone swaying as it almost scrapped the ground when she stood up, and her pants looked like they may have been nothing more then leggings at first glance but had a thickness to them that spoke of extra padding for protecting that regular leggings would not have, all ending in soft black shoes with a hint of something green on the bottom he saw when she took a step to turn towards him and off the chimney stack.

That moment was when he fell, as the black leather mask covering from forehead over the bridge of tiny nose managed to obscure a lot of the face from him, even as the intense blue eyes with their cat slit pupils focused on him in confusion. A curious tilt of her head making the slight curls at the end of her loose hair bounce for a moment.

Before he could say anything she had blinked and was suddenly bounding away, already a block between them before he could even take a step.

Later as he puppy dog eyed one of the cooks into smuggling him a plate of cookies that he shared with Tikki he learned that whoever she was, was going to be his partner.

“Plagg’s chosen are always picked to compliment whoever I’ve chosen, you’re more upfront and visible and willing to get into a fight, so your black cat is someone that will stay back and only get involved in a fight if she needs to. A counterpoint to you and the way you see things in certain situations. She’ll also be the one to deal with the brunt of any bad luck that may happen on a mission, as well as handing out bad luck to any that try to stop you. She will be the destruction to your creation.”

Adrien was already halfway in love.

 

When he next saw her and her hair was now in two low pigtails with acid green ribbons holding them in place, and she had smirked and tipped his hat from his head with one clawed finger, and made a joke about how it seemed she was going to have to place all her bets on lucky color red he knew he was going to marry this girl.


	2. Her Origins: Creation of Chat Noire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The creation of a black cat.

Marinette had found the black box with the slim silver ring in it, when there was still a month of school left.

The black cat like creature with the wide, and completely adorable, green eyes had startled a shriek out of her at first. After that initial panic where Plagg, the little troll, had watched her flail and babble in amusement and throwing out a sarcastic comment now and then to start her up anew she had sat down heavily into her computer chair and had stared at him floating in front of her as if waiting for some great proclamation of something.

Being told he was hungry and wanted cheese, Camembert of all things that stuff was expensive, was not what she expected. Though it didn’t stop her from walking down into her parents’ bakery and walking back up with several loaves of cheese bread and a wheel of cheese that while not up to Camembert was still thick and overly rich to satisfy the tiny black cat floating in her room.

She actually in hindsight appreciated the fact that Plagg wasn’t in a rush to throw out a lot of information about what it meant for her to be chosen by his ring and what it meant to be a phantom thief by his standards. She’s certain if she had been blindsided by all of this and then forced to go out and do something, like fight a monster, from the word go she would have likely broken down and tried to give the ring away.

Instead she and Plagg spent three weeks getting to know one another and her getting used to her newly emerging cat tendencies that seem to grow stronger with each transformation. Plagg had only shrugged and said it happened, he tended to bleed into his chosen more than the other Kwamis did with their chosen, something about how his view on things helped them better grasp being an avatar of destruction and misfortune when they had the more laid back attitude and morals of a cat. That too she slowly worked through because part of her knew she should be a bit more concerned over the whole being chosen to go out and steal things, to protect Paris and the world as a whole, but still steal things and likely get into fights with normal humans and other things from what Plagg had hinted at regarding why they had to find these cursed objects before a certain time. Yet, as he said she was starting to care less about such then she would have three weeks ago and focused more on learning how to jump from roof to roof and use the claws at the end of her elbow length and skin tight gloves better; than worrying about her slipping moral compass. Especially when claws made using the black and silver yo-yo with it’s bright green paw print in the middle a bit trickier. Especially releasing it from where it hung snugly on her left hip, right under her coat and out of view of most people, but still easy to snatch up.

 

At the end of the fourth week she ran into him.

She had been enjoying the view and maybe had been lounging a bit in the falling sun on various rooftops when she had moved and landed on a chimney stack and pondering meandering around a bit more or going home to finish the last of her homework before school would finally be let out. When something like a shiver had ran down her spine and made her turn towards a direction she hadn’t been contemplating before.

He was at least a head taller than her, though some of that may have been due to the dark red, almost black hat with the bright red with black polka dot ribbon trim at its base sitting on top of carefully mussed blond hair. The red and black polka dot theme carried over to the ear clasps over the top of both his ears and the domino mask that covered the upper part of his face, while making his green eyes even more green she thought. The suit was something she expected a stage magician to wear, and kept the dark red, almost black color as his hat with the ladybug theme in small places, like the handkerchief in the breast pocket, and the inner lining of his suit jacket. The black pants with the sturdy black shoes made it all fit and somehow it didn’t seem tacky or ridiculous, even with the glint of silver from what looked like a baton sitting low on his back and easily reached if needed. Even the coattails of his jacket had a cut like ladybug wings without being overly gaudy or tacky.

It was actually a striking figure he cut, and her fashion trained eye had taken in the details that made it all fit together so well. Then she saw him about to take a step towards her and she bolted without thinking.

“Probably Tikki's chosen. Get used to him being able to find you even when you're being at peak sneakiness. They can always find my black cats, much in the same way my black cats can always find a ladybug. Especially their ladybug.”

Here he had flicked his tail towards his own throat as if hitting a bell. And she suddenly realized that to at least one person that bell was not silent as it was to her.

The next time she ran into him, she had to stifle a grin and a groan at the same time. As he was all puppy enthusiasm at seeing and actually getting to talk to her, all while also spouting off one horrible pun after another with a smug and wild grin across his face.

This boy was a complete dork, but Marinette felt a warmth in her chest when she realized this dork was her soon to be best friend.


	3. Names: How to be proper Phantom Thieves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before a heist, before a cleansing, and really before anything else they really need to get their act together. Like having official names, that would be a good place to start.

It had hit Adrien about a month into summer that aside from a few nicknames (He still swooned a little when Cat would call him Bright Eyes.) that they had mostly been calling one another by the animal their costumes were themed after. Something that both had defaulted to when, despite his wish to the contrary, it was decided that keeping their identities a secret at the time was more important than knowing who the other was behind the mask. There had been a lot of good and valid reasons for it, and some of them he had even came up with, but he still had hoped his cat would have decided the risk was worth the gamble.

Despite that bitter pill he swallowed every day, Adrien had something much more important to worry about since he knew that their days of meandering the rooftops aimlessly or playing tag through alleyways would stop being the only thing they did when they put on their masks and met up at sundown.

Being Phantom Thieves meant having a name to give out, a calling card to warn of their next heist, and just their entire stage presence had to be worked out if they were going to do this properly. 

“Okay, I can see why you being called Ladybug could be a problem there Bright Eyes, but being a Black Cat is what I am. I don’t see a need to use anything else fancy if I have to give name.”

It was that hour long conversation where Adrien learned his partner did not actually know anything about phantom thieves and their ways, and that he was horrible at picking out a name. The naming was not helped that anything regarding using some form of ladybug as part of the name ended in failure and sounded more like some odd superhero on a kid’s show then anything that fit the image of a phantom thief.

“Just use something about being good luck or the color red if you really can’t find a way to fit ladybug into the name somehow. We don’t have to match name wise you realize.”

After a bit of deep (sulking over not being able to keep the same name scheme as his cat.) thought and throwing random lucky phrases out there, he recalled their first actual meeting when she had said she was going to place all her bets on lucky color red and well, if he couldn’t use an animal based name to match her, he could at least honor their first meeting with said name.

Marinette had hoped that was the end of it, until she suddenly found herself having a bag shoved into her face filled with a few books and dvds that were apparently about various phantom thieves in both literature and anime. Her partner was a little too adamant about them doing this right if they were going to do this at all.

She would take it to her grave, but she had actually liked the shows and books he had all but flung at her, and in the depths of her mind she could admit just why he would want them to emulate such. It would be neat in a way.


	4. Bye Bye Akuma: The First Cleansing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somehow it was all Plagg's fault, but for a first cleansing it was pretty okay...except for what happened after.

Their first official act in the role they actually were chosen for, was actually by accident. 

It could be blamed on Plagg in a lot of ways. From the fact it was his bad luck that had made Marinette end up on the wrong bus and thus on the far and clear opposing side of Paris from where she was trying to get to. His cat tendencies that had bled into her and thus her laser focused curiosity when something gleamed in the corner of her eye. Even his slight kleptomania that he had been nurturing in her was to blame when she found herself four blocks away from street vendor clutching a butterfly shape brooch in one hand, and not even really remember how or why she had even snatched it. (Well she knew the why, because the feline impulse to bat and snatch at things that caught her interest had been too strong and her will too weak to fight against it.)

She had just about talked herself into turning back around and attempting to unsteal it without anyone noticing the theft or the return of it. (She felt the crawling shiver down her spine that told her that bad luck would not let that happen if she tried, but she couldn’t just keep it damnit.) Then Plagg had woken up from his nap and peeked through the opening she always left in her bag for him to see out into the world without being seen, and nearly gave her a stroke when he all but rocketed out of said bag to hover over said brooch as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Kid, call the bug. You have work to do.”

The scariest part of the whole ordeal was the fact not once did Plagg complain or ask for more cheese before she transformed behind a pile of junk in a claustrophobically small alley. Which may have made her sound a little too anxious when she left a message for Red, considering it looked like he all but sprinted to her location not even ten minutes after she had left the message. Bright green eyes a touch wild as he looked at her like he was expecting to see an injury before shoulders sagged just a little bit when there was nothing physically wrong with her he could see.

Any other time she may have snickered to herself over his puppy crush on her, but she had been trying to not climb a wall in worry since she had leapt up to this particular roof.

“This is it?”

“Don’t look at me Plagg just gave me a really serious look and then said when you were here to do what I do best and let you do what you need to do.”

“But what’s the point of you destroying it if I’m just going to fix it as soon as you do.”

“I don’t know? The stupid cat wasn’t exactly specific.”

“Right, right. We’ll just try and do as he said and figure it out from there.”

They both regretted this not even half a second after Cataclysm had bubbled and sizzled over the brooch, breaking it in two.

“Is that a dark purple butterfly of some unholy origin?”

“Probably, and something tells me letting it roam the city would be an a-paw-lingly bad idea.”

“Must you?”

“Quick Chat! Catch it!”

It was not their smoothest capture at all, but it was the first time they had done this so some leeway over everything had to be forgiven.

“Well at least we know hell insects can’t escape that hat of yours, but where did it go exactly?”

“Not a clue, maybe the same place that makes my Lucky Charm?”

“That’s a bit scary.”

“Now that you made me aware of it, yes it is!”

“Sorry!”

“Let’s just finish this and fix the brooch like we were told and then go home to question our kwamis about this.”

“Yeah, I only have about four minutes left as it is right now.”

The wash of healing magic was expected, though it felt almost like there was something more in it now. A feeling they both promptly forgot about when the brooch glowed for a few moments after knitting back together and a pale purple butterfly like kwami popped out, and promptly passed out on the ground next to said brooch.

Chat spent three of her last four minutes internally freaking out and as she tried to physically console a freaked out Red who was also clinging to her to try and comfort her over what looked like a kwami murder they both had caused.

Both had fled the scene to detransform in hiding, feed their kwamis and babble at them over their apparently assist in murdering another kwami, being told they didn’t (Plagg im less nice terms then Tikki, but this was expected.) and transforming back found both of them huddled over the still unconscious kwami. Both a little hesitant to even touch it in case they did actually kill it without meaning to.

Needless to say, both of them shrieked in surprise when its eyes popped open without any warning.


	5. Nooroo: How to live with two kwamis (even if just for a week at a time)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good news, they didn't murder the kwami, but now what are they going to do with this little guy?

After the initial startlement on everyone’s part, (Nooroo had panicked as well when he suddenly found himself surrounded by two screaming humans, even though he could feel Tikki and Plagg in the air around them.) everyone fed, (Chat had bounded away and came back with enough baked goods to feed a small army, Red fell in love again.) and initial questions and answers given the two teens turned thieves found a slight problem in regards on what exactly to do with Nooroo and his brooch. They didn’t know where this Guardian of the Miraculous was, but neither of them wanted to put the sweet butterfly back into his brooch when he had admitted he hadn’t been free and aware for a very long time due to being passed down a line of corrupted masters.

They justified it all, and their kwamis had agreed in their minds, that since the akumas they were cleansing were made from Nooroo’s magic he would be able to sense them much easier then Tikki or Plagg would. Meaning they could hopefully find more of them in a dormant state and less when they became active and started changing people into, what sounded like to the teen as monsters, warped versions of themselves through negative emotions. Halfway through this talk they somehow let slip a few small facts about one another when figuring out a shared custody of Nooroo, and thus devise an exchange of certain foods.

Chat being a child a bakers meant she had sweets on tap, so to speak, that she could smuggle from the cases that hadn’t been sold at the end of the day, and thus feed both bug kwamis. While Red having a disposable income that while he didn’t get into specifics, Chat had a feeling she would likely feel woozy if she knew just how much from money her partner came from, could order the more expensive cheeses for her to ration between the cheese breads and cheese soups she could make to feed Plagg. 

There was a shared look and mental joke both had about drug smuggling and child custody somewhere in this mess as they decided a weekly rotation on who would house two kwamis was finalized. Sunday was made the day of the switch and the exchange of food stuff.

It took a bit of adjusting for all involved, especially as Marinette and Adrien were still getting used to one Kwami and now had to accommodate a second one in their living space. (Despite protests from Nooroo on them to not bother both had gone full tilt into this and Tikki and Plagg had indulged this because they knew it had been almost three centuries since Nooroo had been with a chosen that actually took care of him) From Adrien, as Red, learning from Marinette, as Chat, about certain potted plants that were easy to care for that both Tikki and Nooroo would like, to Marinette making little sanctuaries for Plagg and Nooroo to hide in from her parents and from one another. Since despite the fact Plagg did care and was trying he was still Plagg and he and Nooroo could drive one another up the wall due to how different they both were personality wise. They even had to adjust how they carried two little gods around when they left the house, because while Nooroo said they didn’t have to, neither felt right just leaving him in their rooms all day long when Plagg and Tikki got to go out and see things, even hidden away as they were.

It wouldn’t be until after the fifth or sixth cleansing that they realized another problem in them housing Nooroo.

His flock of cleansed butterflies also were part of the deal.


	6. Civilian Lives: First meeting out of the mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summertime is over and school is about to start and with it new meetings.

Adrien had all but vibrated to another plane of existence when his father finally, finally decided that smothering Adrien in isolation was maybe not a smart move. Adrien didn’t realize this came about when during a formal gathering with business associates Gabriel had witnessed him dumbly ask a young daughter of a major shareholder if she was alright, and directed her to the bathroom to flush out whatever had fallen into her eye to make her blink that much as she was. Gabriel wanted to protect his child not make him an easy target for the world to take advantage of and he realized he messed up homeschooling the boy this long.

So now at fifteen years of age he was finally going to actually go to school like most other kids, and actually get to interact with his peers in a more casual setting and not just on the job or at a black suit affair where manners had to be maintained at all costs. It would almost be cruel to throw him into such a shark infested pool of hormones and cliques if he hadn’t spent an entire summer socializing with a girl in cat ears, who had happily talked about her time at school. In vague terms and not using any names at all when he had asked about it. So while he didn’t have the experience he had knowledge of things that he likely would have messed up on if he had gone into this head first with only television and books as a guide.

He hadn’t counted on Chloe being the main obstacle.

Don’t get him wrong, Chloe was his only (publically only since he couldn’t exactly tell anyone he jumped rooftops in a suit with a cat girl best friend at night.) friend and while he knew she was spoiled and tended to not think about what she was bluntly saying to anyone when speaking her mind...he hadn’t expected it to be this bad. He hadn’t expected her to be that cruel and mocking of others while somehow still living in a fantasy that everyone adored her, even as she spoke vitriol at them over the slightest thing she didn’t like. Seeming to get offended when anyone called her out on it or didn’t agree with her, instead siding with her latest victim.

He also hadn’t expected the clinginess and possessive attitude she suddenly developed regarding him. Seeming to materialize from thin air to attempt snatching him away from whoever he had tried to talk to, doubly so if it was a female classmate. The nicknames were also a cause for cringing anytime he heard them in that falsely sweet and exaggerated high pitch she would use as if such would make him forget how she had belittle Rose for her love or pink or called Kim a dumb jock that only got this far in school by luck. This likely was just the watered down version of how she acted knowing his eyes and ears were close enough to notice, he shuddered to think how she had been when he wasn’t there and she could let loose without fear of going too far in front of him.

She was pushing the line though, and though it hurt to think of years of the only friendship he had being ruined by him having to push her away in hopes she would realize what she was doing wasn’t okay, it was still a thought he was having.

And it was only the first day.

Apparently he wasn’t the only one reaching a breaking point with how Chloe was acting as tiny hands suddenly slammed into a wooden desk during a free period and tiny Marinette Dupain-Cheng showed why one shouldn’t dismiss someone for only being about 5’1 as she verbally tore into Chloe and all but told her to stop acting like a child with a toy she didn’t want to share and to let Adrien actually talk to people. A slight hiss at the end of each sentence and an odd gravel tone under the words made Adrien flash to the one time Chat had gotten actually angry and had all but growled at him for doing something stupid that almost got his head taken off during a sparring session. All this done quickly before she had primly sat back down, pillowed her head on her arms and went back to her cat nap in the seat behind him.

Adrien was certain if he hadn’t met Chat first he probably would have fallen in love right then and there. Though part of him knew there was now a slight crush for his tiny classmate being nursed in the bottom of his heart, and he couldn’t stop it like one couldn’t stop the sun rising.

If he had looked down he would have noticed two pairs of eyes watching all of this from the purse by Marinette’s foot. The green eyes unfamiliar, but those soft purple ones were ones he had last seen the night before when he had handed Nooroo to Chat for the week.


	7. Catch You Catch Me: Sound of a Bell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ladybug will always know where their Cat is if they look for them, but sometimes you want to find them but don't at the same time. That's when problems occur.

_Ring_

Adrien’s left eye twitched softly as he heard her bell for what seemed the fifth time in just that hour. Let alone the almost twenty times since he had arrived at school today. Yet every time he heard it and attempted to pinpoint just exactly where it was coming from he was met with nothing or a sea of people and no hope of picking her out of the crowd due to the magic of their masks and just the fact when he thought he may have an idea he’d blink and the person was gone.

The first time such had happened to him he had nearly driven himself insane trying desperately to see just where exactly his cat was or figure out why he was hearing her bell all the time when they were clearly out of costume. His heart, even now months after it first started, catching in his throat in some hope that maybe this time he would turn and she would be there and he would _know_ and would finally stop being taunted by that pretty bell jingle. Asking him to find the owner of that bell that sat on her throat, yet never being allowed more than shadows and confused hunches on if he really was that close to her and was just not seeing her.

Even Tikki’s explanation hadn’t helped when she tried to explain that it was happening because he wanted to find her out of the mask but another part still wanted to adhere to his promise to her not to look for her. As long as that conflict remain he would suffer through this and she had no answer in how to maybe mute it or muffle it. Only mentioning that most of her ladybugs had never fell between wanting to know and wanting to keep their two lives separate at all costs as he was, grinning a bit as she shook her head with a knowing look when he tried to explain just why he was torn between those two camps of thought.

It wasn’t his fault that he had been ready to drop his transformation and get to know his cat outside of the mask after that first meeting, because he just knew she was just that important to him, but he had also known that she was not ready for such. What sort of jerk would he be to force such when she clearly did not find the idea of such in anyway as positively as he did. He had been a goner from the word go and he freely admits there is a very short and specific list of things he wouldn’t do for her if she asked and keeping their identities a secret was one he would keep no matter how close to the brink of insanity it was pulling him towards.

Maybe in time that wind chime like sound would become a background noise.

_Ring_

Who was he kidding? He was always, _always_ going to give all his attention to that sound because he happily gave all of his attention to her whenever he could.


	8. Catch You Catch Me: Wandering towards you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A black cat is always meant to be able to know where their ladybug is, which can cause problems if you are and are not trying to find them outside the mask.

Marinette had been adamant from day one that for her and her partner’s safety they would never let their normal lives merge with their masked lives.

A decision she had stood by steadfastly for nearly the entire summer before she started to realize that school would mean less time to see him and tease him with her Bright Eyes nickname that seemed to fluster him at the same time it caused him to grin goofily at her. Less time to just sit on a ledge as they counted cobblestones and played stupid word games that always devolved into him seeing how many puns he could string together before she would laughing try and shove his hat down over his face to make him stop. Less time to lay on a roof and use his stomach as a pillow as they traded stories or told their own version of old fairy tales just because they could.

Plagg had just looked at her and shrugged when she had started to wonder about this. Stating that some pairs worked better knowing one another and some pair worked better never knowing who the other person was behind the mask. 

That didn’t help her at all and it only made her start to wonder about which would work for her and her partner.

She depressed herself when she managed to sink into a circle of self doubt and personal critique. Red had pretty much fallen head over heels for her in the mask, where she was more confident and felt freer to be as sassy as she wanted to be because there was no one really there to judge her. What would her partner think when he found out she was a plain and boring Marinette Dupain-Cheng who could trip on air if not careful, and tended to babble when nervous or overly excited. She didn’t think she could take it to see his face fall as realization sunk in that his partner was not as brave and cool as he seemed to think she was.

This didn’t help her resolve in deciding which decision to go with, since keeping this secret now was more out of habit then actually wanting to do so.

Which was not helped at all when she would suddenly find herself in areas she had not wanted to even be in, and running into classmates when she knew she shouldn’t be where they were at. Especially Adrien, _especially_ Adrien Agreste, who she seemed to suddenly see everywhere when before the school year had started she had barely known he existed. Now she was hyper aware of every advertisement his face was plastered on and somehow kept wandering into the same area as his photoshoots.

She even ended up walking in a kilometer circle in the inner part of the city for an hour and couldn’t understand why.

It was almost like how she always could just tell where Red was when she was Chat, feeling the sun warmth of his luck like a beacon and leading her to him even from across the city. It was something Plagg said all black cats had regarding ladybugs, because they were meant to find one another in some way and know one another. He also said that was what was causing her random wanderings and running into people when she didn’t mean to. She was looking for him outside the mask but also didn’t actually want to find him.

She was destined to keep wandering randomly until she resolved her issue in whether or not she wanted to keep the mask between them up or let it down and let him see her for who she really was.

At least this wandering curse never made her too late to class, she would give it that much.


	9. Cursed Landscapes: First Heist! (At least the prep work for it)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to actually be Phantom Thieves! Or at least start prep work for it.

A traveling art show had been plastered on flyers around Paris for at least three weeks now, one that boasted a lot of priceless pieces of work and a variety of history attached to each one. An art show slash museum seemed to be the gist of what was entail to any who attended. They learned within a few hours when the pieces for said show were in the city proper when Nooroo had stiffened and swung his tiny body fully in the general direction of said show from where they had all been sitting on the support beams of the Eiffel Tower.

This was it, their first test after nearly four months of doing nothing more then breaking into abandoned buildings and studying how to read building maps and blueprints, when they weren’t chasing one another across the skyline of Paris to train themselves in fleeing and evading anyone that may come after them. Both felt the tension rise as a mix ball of emotions settled in the pit of their stomachs. Fear, anxiety, excitement, determination all fusing into one odd emotion that neither could name but understood when they made eye contact over Nooroo’s head. Somehow the thought of finally doing what they were chosen for a relief even as, Chat more so then Red, both felt it was too soon as well.

“So how are we going to figure out which item exactly is the cursed one? We can’t exactly waltz in, masks or not and ask to check each piece for such.”

“Clearly we have to case the place Minou! Like any proper thief would.”

“So we just attend one of the days it’s open like normal people and see if Nooroo picks up anything.”

“We could go together.”

“Nice try Bright Eyes.”

In the end when they managed to get a copy of one of the flyers they decided to alternate who would go on different days due to the fact some items would only be on display during certain times while the show was in town. As well as using the time wandering the exhibit area to note and find the various ways into and out of the building, as well as the security involved. Then they would have to figure out how to get in and get the item, especially if it was a large or awkward item to carry out, as well as where to take it to be cleansed and then how to get it back before the show left and without being caught.

The slowly growing list of things that needed to get done before they could even attempt to steal the item was daunting to say the least. Sometimes they wished this whole protecting the world thing was a bit more of the straightforward punch the enemy of the day or week in the face until the problem was solved.

Both sighed before getting back to work while Nooroo watched and made suggestions now and again from around the cinnamon roll that he was slowly devouring. Even volunteering to help since the nature of kwami magic meant cameras couldn’t see him so he would only have to not be seen by actual people within the building if he took a quick peek for them.

Being superheroes had to be easier than this, right?


	10. Shifting Landscapes: More to cleansing then just a spell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get in snatch the object, take it somewhere to cleanse it, return it, and done!
> 
> They both should have known it would never be that easy and uncomplicated.

Getting in to the exhibit after hours had been a bit trickier than they had first hoped and planned for. The area around the building oddly full of life and thus foot traffic even at one in the morning when both had slunk over the roof and down towards a service entrance that was mostly overlooked by the staff as a whole. Inside was luckily all but dead, the day of hiring a squad of security guards gone in lieu of cameras and other high tech marvels. Something that would have stumped the two (Both could navigate tech like any child born with such around them, but neither had ever taken enough interest to learn how to manipulate it like others.) and caused this to be a failed attempt if they didn’t have Luck and Kwamis on their side.

The luck of a ladybug meant they ghosted in quietly and without a ripple, seeming to know exactly when to move and when to remain hidden in a shadow. At times the luck of the black cat popped up to balance such by having them scramble and lose progress to avoid the few actual security guards in the building, or to have hearts in their throat when a display got shifted on accident in a way you could not play off as anything but someone bumping into it. Those instances caused Chat to scale something or squeeze into some cramped and shadowed space more times then she cared to admit while Red reluctantly kept moving forward. The mixing of their differing luck a bit too unpredictable at times that Chat had to fall back and take a differing route in order to let Red make it to the painting without incident.

Red had tried to silently protest that idea, his own mind worried that alone Chat’s bad luck would cause her to get chased out of the building or even seen until Nooroo had zipped to act as guide and warning for Chat. While not luck based, Nooroo’s magic allowed him some skills to throw people off and confuse technology, and coupled with how a Cat could hide from anyone and anything that wasn’t a Ladybug meant she just had to take things a little slower than him. 

In the end they had made it the small bust of an angel with hands clasped in front of its chest sitting on a small table. The faint shadows that looked like tear tracks in the daylight hours, and under the bright show lights looked like something darker had traveled down the angel's face in the dim safety lights. Then the air _rippled_ and Nooroo had tensed and flitted away from said bust. The normally sweet expression on his face fading away to one of nerves and determination as Lucky Red and Chat Noire tensed at the sudden heaviness of the air around them.

“This one has gained some sentience. It’s going to fight you before it will let you take it away to be cleansed. Please be careful.”

Then there was something that may or may not have been a security guard in front of them, twisted and deformed trying to claw their faces off as they both jumped back from the blow. Those slight scuffles with some of the local gangs barely had anything on what was in front of them now.

The fight seemed to take forever, but over so quickly as well as the thing seemed to dissolve before the air rippled again and they were once more standing in front of the angel bust as if they hadn’t just had a fight all across the building. The sudden beeping from their miraculous and their panting breaths the only indication of what they just went through as Red snatched up the bust, leaving a little calling card with the logo Chat had made after an eternity of him begging, and they both fled out the skylight in the opposing corner of where they had came in. Barely managing to make it to the rundown building they were using for temporary storage and fleeing one another long enough to let their transformations drop.

Each of them taking time to sprawl on the dust covered ground in exhaustion as their kwamis stuffed themselves with food. Adrien pondering to himself that they may need to figure out a better way to store the items and to keep food stashes for moments like this.

They waited three days after breaking and cleansing the bust to return it. Mostly due to the police crawling through the building, and because both of them kept getting caught up in things in their regular lives to make meeting up to return it before then impossible.


	11. Akumatization: A temporary job change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was bound to happen one day, that they wouldn't get to a butterfly in time and now they see what happens when one does reach zero on its countdown.

It had just been a bit of unforseen bad luck, and Red had tried for at least several minutes to verbally and silently convey to his partner that it wasn’t her that caused it, because sometimes Chat tended to blame any bit of a complication on her bad luck despite his assurance he could feel when it actually was her bad luck doing so.

Two butterflies had become activated within a short span of time of one another...on different sides of the city. Efficiency said they should have split and each gone after one on their own, but both felt deep down that was a bad idea, especially considering Chat had no way to contain said butterfly once released from whatever it had been trapped in and getting it back to Red in a timely manner. The plan had been to do lightening quick heists one after the other with a stop between to give their kwamis time to eat and recharge enough.

Not even Nooroo had realized the two large energy signatures were covering up a third one that slipped out of their senses before they had fully realized what had happened.

By the time they had cleansed the first two and returned the oil painting to their proper exhibits the had all felt something that felt like something breaking through. Almost like an egg cracking and something foul leaking out of it as it rubbed against their senses in a way that had the duo shuddering in revulsion at the feel.

Then the news feeds began to blare out about a creature wreaking havoc near the Louver and Nooroo had looked terrified from his position being cupped in Chat’s hands and held under her chin.

That was when they learned about Akumatization and what the Miraculous were first originally made for as they bounded across rooftops. They learned a brief history and how their predecessors had been more like vigilantes or figureheads to bring balance back into the world. How certain ones were activated if another had been stolen or abused by a holder that went corrupt from the power. All if it culminating to them today when Nooroo’s brooch had been given to a painter that had learned to infuse a butterfly into his work and in time they would slowly create magical safe havens with a guardian that other miraculous holders could use to hide and heal when times were tough, only for the power to corrupt and twist as the painter began to be disenchanted with the world and passed that knowledge on to another just as disgusted with the world at large and creating the chain of users that would lead to Nooroo becoming possessed by his own magic corrupted and thus laying dormant until Chat had found his brooch when she had.

Knowing all this did not fully prepare them for the woman twisted by the possessed necklace and her own broken heart as she lashed out with her borrowed power to make people’s love turn to hatred. A being that was human and thus not an enemy they could just wail on until it dissolved into the murky purple-black bubbles and sludge that the twisted guardians they had fought before would do. No they had to be careful not to truly hurt the possessed woman, neither willing to see just how far Red’s restoration would go in regards to injuries on said woman. Especially when they knew how limited it was in regards to injuries on them when used. Only closing wounds and mending bones just enough to let them limp home and heal something in a week that would have taken a month instead. They couldn’t risk it not truly working on the akumatized victim if they were too rough in getting the necklace off of her.

The fight took almost an hour through the sunset colored streets of Paris before Red managed to distract the woman long enough for Chat to get close enough to Cataclysm the necklace off her neck and into a thousand cracked pearl pieces on the ground as the purple butterfly attempted to flutter away. An escape stopped short as Red practically used his hat as a frisbee to snatch it up before tossing said hat once more into the air as the soothing warmth of the restoration magic restored the damaged property and reversed the hateful magic that had ensnared many citizens during said fight.

The duo didn’t even pause when they saw the young woman slightly dazed but unharmed get swept up by two people that were clearly her parents, before both scattered into the dark alleyways and sidestreets. Seperating on instinct to detransform and hide among the crowds before heading back home and hoping they were both casual enough in doing so to not draw notice.


	12. Investigative Actions: Alya is on the scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At some point the whole stealing and returning things, along with the occasional monster fight in the streets would gain attention. Marinette Regrets that it does.

It took about three heists and subsequent return of said stolen items before social media began to buzz about them. So far no name had stuck and the only pictures that showed there was more than one person pulling these off were grainy and blurred to the point only vague silhouettes could be seen and smudges of dulled color if one was lucky enough to get a flash off in time. The magic of their suits seemed to extend even to the paparazzi it seemed.

By the fourth heist and the second akumatized victim being cleansed someone managed a half decent shot of both of them in profile grinning at one another as Red held out his hand to help Chat balance back on her feet amidst the rubble ten seconds before he released his restoration spell to make it seem as if nothing had gone wrong.

Alya had been hooked the moment that photo circulated and Marinette was going to die trying to not give anything away as her best friend on this side of the mask began her crusade to find out who the mysterious duo were and what it was they were doing exactly. Especially with how there was still a fierce debate on whether or not the pair were criminals or heroes of an unorthodox nature.

Those on the criminal side sighting how if they didn’t have ulterior reasons why they hadn’t just come out in the open and just ask to see the supposed cursed items to purify them instead of doing this sneaking around to steal said items and replacing them days later. Some even going so far as to ask if they weren’t the ones causing these items to be cursed in the first place. The ones calling them heroes shouting at the other side with their views and using the blurry evidence of them defending Paris when said curse items took over a person. Yelling and arguing that who in their right mind would believe two costume wearing people that they had to remove some priceless artifact or expensive piece of jewelry to break it and then cleanse it of some evil before magically fixing said item again. They’d have been locked away before they could finish explaining, so of course they resorted to stealing.

The debate was long and had caused quite a few forum threads and sections to be frozen and even deleted on sites due to how heated the debate would get.

Alya had dove head first into it all. Even had a blog created and customized using the colors that one almost clear image had give regarding the duo’s costumes and cycled through various names with each new theory or poll on what to call the duo. The url had been a quickly snatched up phantomthievesofparis since it was the only concrete fact Alya had and didn’t want anyone else to snatch it first. It became popular almost overnight due to how extensive Alya had gone into gaining any and all leads regarding the pair. Even her debate topics had brought a lot of traffic as she had visitors talk about their views on the pair’s outfits to suggestions on what their names could or should be. Marinette had half heartedly made an account, almost giving herself a heart attack when she realized in a moment of distraction Plagg had typed in Luck’s Lady as a screen name, and could only press her face into her carpet for a few moments because she couldn’t change it now and if Red ever found out she would _never_ hear the end of it.

She almost had a stroke when one day the title of the blog in dark red lettering on acid green and black background proclaimed itself as The Luck Blog: All things about Lucky Red and Chat Noire. When she found the forum post that had spurred the names and read Chat’s Knight she vowed to throw her insufferable partner off a roof that night.

She didn’t throw him off the roof, but she did tackle her cackling partner and used her ill gotten gained knowledge of his ticklish spots as she ranted at him for being reckless. He only grinned unrepentantly back up at her since he had no air to make a retort. He made up for such with a flirty remark regarding her all but straddling him during said rant when she was starting to wind down. 

That caused her to shove him off the roof, he hit the lower roof with a slight bounce and cackled even more at her.


	13. Bad Luck and Feelings: Why Crushes are a disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being an avatar of Bad Luck means Marinette needs to worry about other things then having a crush. Someone forgot to send her heart that memo.

It had been slow at first, Marinette having believed herself to be someone that wasn’t swayed by a person’s physical appearance, something she had at first wondered about when it seemed that Red had fallen hard for her on first sight when the magic of their miraculous made it impossible to actually see any facial details. (She had spent hours trying to write down more than blond hair and green eyes as a descriptor for her partner when Plagg had first told her to stop worrying about being recognized out of the mask.) So she wasn’t expecting four months down the line for her heart to suddenly flip over when Red had given his excited grin to her as they scaled a building for yet another heist and cleansing.

There was nothing wrong with her partner, puns and all, and deep down she knew any other situation and she likely would have just fallen and let his enthusiasm sweep her away. Yet, everything they were doing from breaking into buildings to steal (temporarily!) artifacts and the occasional piece of jewelry, the fights with negative energy stored within said items, the occasional akumatized person when they just weren’t fast enough, and all while dodging the police force trying to catch them or those like Alya trying to pin them down to get their secrets from them. Well, none of that seemed like an ideal situation to date anyone, let alone her partner who she already knew she would happily walk into the most obvious of traps for if he asked. Adding a relationship would likely make things more intense? Complicated? She couldn’t really pick out a word that fit, but just knew that if she gave in to her partner who would have happily started dating her months ago now if she read his crush on her right, then things would cross a line into something she was scared to think about.

Red already almost hovered at times when her bad luck got the best of her. She still could hear the panicked and worried jumble of words he had given when she had casually brushed off the roof tile almost falling on her incident from a week ago. If he was that invested in her well being when she was keeping him an arm’s length away then what would he do if they were actually dating?

She was the chosen of the god of Ruin and Bad Luck, disaster would always nip at her heels and catch her if she didn’t remain weaving through the shadow cast by her partner. Of everything that Plagg had told her that had been one of the few things he had been serious about. Her bad luck could be countered by Red’s good luck but if she took too much of it then misfortune would fall on him and that was the complete opposite of what her role was. She was the one that was supposed to take the hits and mistakes so Red was able to do what he needed to do. Something that seemed to distress her partner a lot when he realized too late what she was doing when she moved out of his range at key moments to not be wrapped up in the sun like warmth that she associated with the luck magic he gave off.

Red was already over protective of her during such times, a complete and actually true gentleman in an age where a lot of guys thought acting nice meant a girl owed them affection. No, Red actually acted the way he did because he felt that he truly was supposed to be that attentive and never asked for anything in return other than what she wanted to give. She didn’t want to be the reason for him to feel guilty or try and take on even more during their heists because of a change in their relationship.

Maybe one day if they ever found an end to the amount of items previous holders of Nooroo’s miraculous had cursed with tainted butterflies. Until then she promised herself not to give in to her feelings for her partner and keep everything as it was now until that time.

She should have known her bad luck would take that as a challenge.

 

Adrien Agreste hadn’t really caught her attention when he had started school and was in her class. It actually took her two weeks after the first day to realize his face was plastered all over Paris and just why that was, and even then she had just shrugged and admitted that he was good looking but that was it. Part of her was still leery and waiting for him to drop the pleasant (fake she just knew that perfect smile was too perfect to be anything other then fake) and polite smile he always wore and show just why he and Chloe were friends. Even after she had verbally tore into Chloe for her smothering the guy to the point you might as well have written his discomfort in neon colors on a billboard for the world to see, she was still expecting something to make him seem like the rich kid snob everyone had first expected when they found out he was a childhood friend of Chloe.

Even after he had made friends with Nino and thus started hanging around with her and Alya due to them usually eating lunch and studying together with said DJ, Marinette still never saw him as anything more than a pretty faced classmate that she was slowly warming up to as a friend.

Two months into the school year and four months after meeting Plagg they had been assigned a school project that needed partners for and she had unthinkingly asked him if he wanted to work together when she had seen a quick flash of panic on his face at the announcement. Already figuring that the moment the teacher left the room then Chloe would descend on the boy and force him to be her partner.

The smile he had thrown at her had been full of wonder and relief, and it had made his eyes almost as bright as her partners were and suddenly her heart did a small flip.

_Oh no._

The project had gone off without a hitch and somehow her asking Adrien to partner up seemed to have been some signal for him to relax more around her and she was seeing exactly why he and Nino had clicked together as friends so quickly and this was not helping her at all regarding what was causing her face to warm unexpectedly around him when he stopped using that model smile and just grinned and openly laughed, or told a corny joke that could rival some of the ones her partner would make up and tell her when they would huddle close together on colder nights and just didn’t feel like doing anything else but be near one another.

This was a disaster that she didn’t know how to stall, let alone stop from happening. Like a derailed train screeching toward her and she with nowhere to move away from it.

If letting herself openly show her affection to her partner was a bad idea, to have any sort of crush on a classmate who had no idea about what she got up to when most of Paris was asleep was asking for everything to turn to ash as if she had used Cataclysm on it.

Her heart was clearly out to kill her; she thought as she kept her face pressed into the carpet of her room where she had flopped down after classes. Plagg, the little shit that he was, sitting on her head with a large chunk of cheese bread and dropping crumbs into her hair like he does.

“Well, I always seem to find heartbreakers for chosens, you’re no different there kid. Two guys in less then a year. Though you clearly have a type when you think about it.”

The slightly subvocal whine she had been making gained in volume. Thanks Plagg, really, she had been happily avoiding the fact that she was somehow crushing on two different people now and did not know what to do with this. Her bad luck was going to have a field day with this if she started stumbling over words or her own feet around them.


	14. Good Luck, Bad Luck: Adrien and Tikki have a talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien learns a bit more about what it means for Chat to be the Bad Luck to his Good Luck and is not happy about it at all. (Not even this verse can escape Sadrien)

It was hard to not notice the bad luck his cat gave off, the cool feeling like a soft breeze in the middle of the night had always shifted just out of his range of sense, but still close enough he could feel it as it darted out to attach to something. Be it a security guard that suddenly had his flashlight die and thus forcing him to fumble back to wherever extra batteries were, or a camera suddenly dying for a few moments before rebooting as if just a glitch in the programing.

Unfortunately, that bad luck seemed to wrap around his cat like an extra snug coat and cause problems for her. Her grace leaving her suddenly at an inopportune time, a blow that normally she could deflect landing because her reaction was somehow slowed down just that one time. Things that were mildly worrying but easily laughed off as they bounded away together with prize in hand and jokes and banter flying fast and loose. 

Until the incidents stopped being small and mild, and his luck started to deflect things _to her_.

His chest still tightened in remembered panic and guilt when he had felt his luck surge up to nudge the falling cement roof tile from falling anywhere near him and into the sphere of bad luck of his dear cat. The tile had thundered and crashed so close it had actually left a small cut on her cheek from when she had jumped back, it had been just that close and she had just shrugged it off. Acted as if it was just something that happened like forgetting your coat on a windy day sort of incident and not one that could have severely injured or even kill her!

Tikki hadn’t helped when she said that Plagg’s influence tended to dull such reactions in his chosen in order for them to ignore such things and keep doing what they need to do.

“Bad luck, especially in a conflict situation always has the chance to become deadly. If a black cat worried and freaked out about such everytime it happened they would never set foot in such situations. Which goes against what they are chosen for. They are meant to use said bad luck, even if it is against themselves to make certain your good luck has the best chance to succeed.”

“Is there anyway to make it not as bad for her? I don’t _want_ her to get hurt because of me, Tikki.”

“Nothing permanent or even long term. She gets a bit of your good luck when she is near you, but much like how you can feel her bad luck as it swirls around her and latches on to things, she can feel your good luck do the same.”

“How is that bad?”

“Haven’t you noticed how at times she seems to deliberately move away from you or put distance between you two at key moments? She’s making certain she doesn’t take too much of your good luck or your good luck at a time when you need it most. Something I don’t see you convincing her to stop doing at any point. She’s likely just or even more stubborn than you, and she has Plagg’s cat tendencies to strengthen it. She’ll likely become even more reckless to be contrary if you attempt to smother her anymore then you do.”

“I’m not smothering her, I’m just concerned over the fact my partner apparently has a death wish.”

“Cat’s are prideful and independent. The more you attempt to push the more she’ll push back.”

It was not the answer he hoped for, but he tried to tone it down and not always give in to the urge to snatch her out of harm’s way as he tended to do. Which was really, really hard to do, because he knew she could take a lot of hits and just spring back up agitated and ready to give back as good as she got, but that didn’t stop him from feeling his soul leave his body when it did occur.

She was so small, something he seemed to overlook when she was sassing him over his puns and bad jokes or staring down a manifestation of the evil in whatever they were about to steal, but she was physically so much smaller than him. Which scared him so much because what would happen when her suit couldn’t take the full force of a blow or enough where they would walk away with nothing more serious than a purpling bruise and aching muscles? His nightmares were usually of her being broken and so still on the ground, because he wasn’t fast enough or clever enough to stop whatever it was that had finally been too much for her to bounce back from. He was certain he would likely give up if he lost her. She was his best friend on the mask side of life and he knows she would be the same on the other side once they knew one another, and to lose that person that understood him with only a few words and a look…

He couldn’t take being that alone again if he failed.


	15. We have a fandom: Yet we still have to flee the cops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite a rising popularity with the people of Paris, they're still Phantom Thieves and Red/Adrien is starting to get tired of fleeing when they're trying to help. Chat/Marinette just wants to finish her damn nap.

“You would think after the fourth or fifth time we saved Paris from an akuma victim they’d at least tone down the manhunt for us, right kitten?”

The tone had attempted to be teasing but after six months of being partners Chat knew Red was anything but in a teasing mood. From the tired edge that made his consonants a bit more clipped then normal, the almost painful tension in his muscles she could feel from her position in using his stomach as a pillow, to even how the absent petting of her faux cat ears was jerky and not the usual smooth glide he had adopted when she had first allowed him to do such an action. It all spoke of the stress both of them were feeling as they laid in a slightly exhausted heap in the deep shadows formed from two buildings being so close together, and deepened just that bit more by Plagg’s magic sensing the need for such.

This position was becoming a bit too common as the sirens that had chased them up and into this hiding place slowly began to move away as their pursuers began to look elsewhere for them.

“We have given the justice system a bit of a bad reputation with our antics, Bright Eyes.”

That was a bit of an understatement as it seemed several of the higher ups and even the Mayor seemed to take the jokes and ribbing from the public over the inability to catch two monster fighting thieves as a grave insult. Not to say all of the police force were out for their blood, since if that was the case they’d likely have been caught by now, regardless of Red’s luck working overtime to keep them one step ahead of said police force. No, it was mostly a lot of the stiff politic types that never actually set foot out on the streets in an official capacity if there wasn’t a photo op in their favor that seemed to have a vendetta against them. Officer Raincomprix was becoming a godsend and both teens absently wondered if it would be too suspicious if they somehow gave Sabrina thank you gifts for having a father that was trying to keep said politicians from turning this into an attempt at a mob mentality search for them.

Most of the street cops and detectives seemed to be neutral or taken an amused stance to them. Some using their ability to steal things right out from under them as incentive to whip one another into better shape. An incentive that had caused crime to take a bit of a nose dive with a police force just that bit more driven. Though, neither would ever admit they had helped with that a bit as well when they had used drug traffickers and other unsavory groups as practice for breaking and entering hostile environments to steal things.

The stolen money slowly put into an account Red had somehow managed to set up and slowly becoming a bit of an emergency fund for them. Both adding money to it when they could in order to one day get an actual hideout so they didn’t have to use rooftops or the rafters of Notre Dam as places to meet and cleanse the akumas. (The logistics of buying said place was ignored at the moment because Adrien would figure something out considering his family name.)

“Do you think we could just sic our fandom on them to get them to back off?”

Red only got a groan in response and an elbow pointedly dug into his sides as Chat shifted more of her weight on to him. She was apparently still holding a grudge over his comment of them making an official instagram account just to see how people would foam at the mouth the first time they posted a selfie on it. Or she was still upset over his continued egging people on the Luckblog forums that she had seen. (He would never admit he had gushed a bit to Tikki when he got home and fully realized that his cat recognized him even online and actually followed his posts and threads.) His cat was very good at holding a grudge at times, Tikki said it was likely Plagg’s influence.

“Getting our fans involved would be stupid, but I’m starting to get desperate enough to try anything at this point bright eyes.”

He had to blink several times to make certain that he had actually woken up from his dozing instead of falling fully asleep when he heard that sentence. The slightly maniacal grin that began to spread over his features was slow and deliberate enough that he could see the dawning realization in his partners eyes as she looked up at him from the vicinity of his stomach.

“I’m going to regret whatever it is your planning in that handsome head of yours, but, go on Bright Eyes.”

“It’s only an outline my kitten, but that just means it’s flexible enough to fit any complications. How opposed are you to mixing up what we do when we steal items, with the saving people of Paris, and those months where we did nothing more then play tag and other games just because we could on the rooftops at night?”

“...You’re going to get your instagram account from this aren’t you?”

“And a Twitter if this goes as well as I think it will.”

“I hold the power of veto if you get out of hand.”

“You always do little lady, that never changes.”

For a few blissful moments Chat went back to her nap while Red began to plot just how to execu...wait a minute.

“ _DID YOU CALL ME HANDSOME?_ ”

The loud oomph that followed was the direct cause of a not happy cat being woken up due to said yell and all but slamming her elbow into her partner’s gut in retaliation.


	16. The Plan: How a thief fandom grew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red puts his plan into action, Chat is still Unsure.

Alya had lost her mind within an hour of Red’s plan going into effect and Marinette could only sigh through her nose and hope to god her partner’s luck would hold since his sanity was clearly slipping.

It started off slow and only had die hard fans of the duo in a frenzy when the instagram account had gone live with just a few snapshots of the Parisian skyline that could only be taken from the rooftops. Then the twitter accounts, yes accounts he somehow had talked her into making one solely for Chat Noire, had gone active with only one another friended and mostly trading back their usual banter in text form. Even going so far as to have a three day long pun war and Marinette had never been more grateful for having a father that enjoyed puns of all kinds. Then, someone had stumbled over it and had shrieked about it on the Luckyblog and Alya had practically clotheslined Marinette in her excitement to show her said twitter accounts and gush about what this might mean.

This phase of the plan was fine, she could understand it. Publicity to show they were not going to rob Paris blind when they weren’t looking or actual criminals with super powers was a good thing. Maintaining a superficial account and taking a few pictures with her yoyo now and again on Red’s prompting wasn’t so bad. Even when they started answering people that began to follow them was okay, they just had to keep up the feelings and way they would act when they were in their masks and daring one another to stupid stunts on top of iconic landmarks.

It was the second phase that made her nonexistent tail lash out in agitation.

A phase that would have crashed horrifically if it wasn’t for the fact that Chloe was the Mayor’s daughter and had gained some odd hero worship of Chat Noire when said cat had picked the blonde up and vaulted her to safety during a fight with an akuma. Marinette still did not know how to deal with that fact, considering how much Chloe despised Marinette yet proclaimed to be besties with Chat Noire. But somehow that bit of personal agitation seemed to be the foot in the door for Red to somehow get a talk with the Mayor that didn’t involve cops lying in wait to ambush them.

She was grudgingly impressed with how Red had somehow turned his infectious enthusiasm into a weapon he used to spin his tale. Never pushing for anything more then what the mayor would be willing to think about, even laying out that they fully understood breaking and entering was a crime and that such deeds did in fact warrant a pursuit. (Chat had almost fainted when Red somehow worked out some sort of monetary penalty system regarding past and future break ins, and he was somehow able to pay for said past break ins without even flinching at the amount.)

By the end of it, they somehow were given a free pass in being pursued if they were actually seen subduing an akuma possessed citizen, and were allowed a leeway if caught returning a purified object. Any other time they were ‘free game’ so to speak by any city official that managed to catch a glimpse of them. Going even so far as agreeing to follow a classic trope of the phantom thief genre and leave calling cards to warn when they would “steal something” instead of letting the world find out after the fact.

Chat felt the shiver of doom down her spine at this because she knew who would be the one doing most of the fleeing despite their respective skill sets.

It wasn’t a perfect solution, but considering that this was just phase one of what was likely a very long and slow process to make Paris as a whole want to keep them free and roaming the rooftops, it was a good first step to that. Something both of them knew as they seemed to give out a tension falling sigh of relief as they bounded to one of their favored hiding spots after said meeting.

“Well, it’s not the breathing room I want for us, but it’s something at least.”

And the shiver down her spine is something else and much worse in her mind as she’s suddenly the recipient of a grin that is still the bright infectious grins she normally receives from her partner, but coupled with a soft apologetic look. Like a puppy that tried so hard and hopes still for some affection and praise, and she is clearly far too weak to such eyes as one hand lifts up and fingers gently rub against his temple briefly as she quirks her lips in something she hopes is teasing and sassy; and not lovestruck and wobbly as her insides feel at the moment.

Damn him sometimes.

“Baby steps Bright Eyes, I don’t think even your luck would get us instant acceptance with just one meeting.”

“Which is such a shame, everyone should see how much you should be adored after all.”

Double damn him, he was actually being sincere and not just being over the top flirty like he normally is when saying things like that. 

“Black cats aren’t that lucky and this one best be off before hunting season really opens up.”

She refused to look at him directly as she turned to scale up a building and begin a circuitous route home. The way her emotions were going if she had watched the bright expression dim to be replaced by that crestfallen look of disappointment he always got when she would evade his declarations by fleeing, they might betray her and make her stay this time.

She can’t afford to let her luck ruin their partnership.


	17. Fanbase Woes: This plan was not thought out fully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making Paris want a thief fandom is one thing, but both Adrien and Marinette have forgotten what a fandom entails.

Adrien knew how fandom could get, he practically grew up watching and participating in such things as the internet was one of the few places he could breathe and not be restricted by a demanding schedule or be only known for his model face that he still did not see why so many found such an appeal in.

So he should have expected something like this when he had set his plan into motion, should have known in the back of his mind how people can get when they latch onto something to obsess about. He listened to such daily as Alya went on about whatever new lead or scrap of info she managed to get regarding his alter ego and his partner to bright and patient Marinette, who like any friend not fully invested in something but being supportive despite such listened. Saw the hints of it when people would suddenly and sharply look to the rooftops with phones at ready if a shadow passes over them that they think is them, and sometimes is, bounding across a roof.

Yet, when someone leaked their calling card to the Luckblog something had clicked into order in his mind and he found himself scrambling a bit.

“I guess Plagg was right about my bad luck lingering on that card.”

He wasn’t meant to hear the almost sigh like whisper from Chat, but he has and always will be hyper attuned to her when she’s near and thus heard it clearly and he can’t help the slight grimace of remorse. He had been the one to hand her the card to look at before sealing it in the envelope ready to be placed in a postal box. He had forgotten again in his excitement to show off for her that her luck was sly like that. That it seemed determined to be her sword just as much as it tries to be her downfall.

_’It’s the way of the black cat, Adrien, their bad luck is volatile and hard to control, especially when they’re emotional, but it needs those emotions to be properly used. It’s why her luck snaps out so much. Why I chose you instead of Plagg. Even though the guardian had wanted Plagg to go to you.’_

That had been part of a discussion from weeks ago he remembered vaguely when he had asked how they knew who to chose. Learning more about how much he and his partner were two halves of a same whole and could easily have been swapped power wise if not for a few key pieces. Key pieces humans would overlook but a kwami would find more important. The one that had gifted them their boxes had been set on making him the shield to her healing and Tikki admitted it would have worked because she would have made a good Ladybug to his Chat Noir, but it would not have been seamless as it was now. His home life would have stunted his growth in using his bad luck in ways that were not self destructive because he had been trained to not be emotional. Where, from what he managed to glean from his cat, she had a family and support to be expressive and open with her emotions.

“So! What do you think is going to happen when we have to make our entrance down there? Is the mob going to hinder the police that are likely even more desperate right now to at least get a close call in catching us. Or are we going to spend more time dodging intrepid reporters trying to get a photo op of us in our element.”

The brightness wrapped around the heavy sarcasm was a jolt and a balm to his nerves and soul as he glanced over and saw her with that confident smirk and blue eyes practically glowing as she surveyed the barely contained chaos down below. Everything snapped back into that clear crisp feeling that happened as anticipation of what they were about to do wrapped around them like vibrating piano wire. He felt more than knew the overly cocky smile he had adopted on this side of the mask slowly creep over his features as he pretended to contemplate the crowd of gawkers with cell phones flashing as bloggers and others recorded what they hoped to be the start of one of their infamous heists.

“As much as putting on a show would be interesting, it is a school night.”

“Don’t remind me, I still have homework to do.”

“Poor Kitten, let’s finish this up as quick as we can. I don’t want to be the cause of a pretty lady losing sleep.”

It was both simple and down right chaotic at the same time from the moment they had left the roof. Fortunately they had been putting in more hours into learning a building before a heist so they had known this building was connected to another one through a basement hallway when both buildings had been an old hotel owned by less than model citizens back in the day, so getting in without alerting anyone was the easiest part of the entire heist.

Dodging the influx of security and the more bold and reckless reporters and bloggers that were also sneaking around hoping to get a scoop cut in to the time they had saved from said easy entrance. The room with the item they were after had been its own nightmare to navigate and it was now on the short list of times where Adrien actually felt drained from over use of his luck, which he knew was even worse for his partner who had been malfunctioning cameras and cell phones since they had entered the building and would have to use even more misfortune to help clear the way for their retreat.

It took far too much willpower to not snicker when he listened to the almost non existent whisper of frustration from his cat when they yet again dodged a very persistent Alya that somehow seemed to have a sixth sense on their general location. He looked forward a bit to eavesdrop on her tales of tonight during school the next day just so he could figure out if she did or was somehow just that lucky in almost catching them as she was. 

They were both exhausted when they finally scaled the side of a building after exiting through a small window in a little tucked away office hardly any realized was there. The small painting of a gently smiling woman cradled against his chest in order to let his sorely depleted good luck have an easier time of wrapping around it to keep the akuma asleep just that bit longer as they crept through shadows towards the south where a former boutique sat empty and forlorn that they had prepared earlier in the week as a place to rest before actually cleansing anything. Both sinking down into sprawled messes in separate rooms as their kwamis ate and recharged and they caught their breath, or in Adrien’s case wrestled once more with the impulse to lean against the wall separating them and ask once again if she still believed their identities should be kept secret.

The high pitch chime of an alert from the Luckblog app on both of their phones cut off any thoughts and even though he couldn’t see, he knew she was also scrambling to open her phone and buffering the video that had just been posted.

Seeing the now empty piece of wall where the painting currently waiting for them caused a laugh to startle out of him as Alya’s excited yet still trying to be professional in tone voice began to recount the night to those that hadn’t been at the building. A laugh that got a little bit more hysterical when somehow the video went from being about the practically perfectly executed robbery into debate on the interactions he and his cat had the few times they had been seen by someone.

By the time they had transformed and managed to subdue and cleanse the corrupted guardian and watched Nooroo welcome the now cleansed butterfly back into his magic they had apparently gained the ship name of LuckyBlack and already had a small die hard fan base theorizing about what sort of wedding they would have.

The look Chat shot him as they seperated told him he would have to wait before poking that particular bee hive if he actually wanted his partner to not ignore him for days on end again.


	18. The Hunter and the Hunted: Marinette can't catch a break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the one meant to do the stalking ends up being the one ambushed. Marinette just wishes it didn't end with bruised shins and wounded pride.

Today would be the day, was Marinette’s thought as she made her way towards her locker. Today she would _not_ be startled into embarrassment by Adrien ‘goddamn’ Agreste and his uncanny ability to pop up near her without warning. Only Red was allowed to do that to her as Chat and even then she hated it, but this was too far and it was going to stop today. 

Though, deep down she knew it was partially her fault that her classmate had picked up such a bad habit, since that day she had asked him to be her partner on that project, it seemed to have been a green light and suddenly he was there like a puppy, all bright and sunshine feelings and calling her Mari while looking both pleased he was doing so and downright terrified that she would tell him to stop and it had hurt when she had first seen that reaction in his eyes. It made her think of her partner who she knew wasn’t allowed such simple things as being openly emotional and affectionate with people due to his father, and she was starting to see that her once fashion idol was clearly the same sort of bastard that was doing the same thing to Adrien with the fake model smile and controlled behavior he rarely dropped around anyone, but was slowly loosening its grip around Nino and her for some reason. (Alya too be extension but something seemed to keep Adrien from getting too comfortable around the blogger.)

But no, her wish to wrap her partner and her classmate in cotton wool and give them to her mama to feed while she kicked their father’s teeth in was not the issue today. No, today the issue was the fact this particular blond kept surprising her in undignified ways (The crush she was denying till the end of days was part of that undignified way, but she would not acknowledge it.) and it had to stop. She couldn’t afford to slam her face into a wall or something and get a bruise that wouldn’t be hidden by the mask during a stake out or patrol. The one time she had came to stake out of a building with a small purple bruise on her chin from falling face first into a door handle had shown she couldn’t afford such again if she didn’t want Red to _hover_. Her partner acting almost as if she had been critically injured instead of just being mortified that she managed such a thing. So today would be the day she would actually catch the model in the act and not be startled when he greeted her, or asked her a question when she had thought he was nowhere near her. A feat that would be far easier if her senses were still not in that conflicted mess of a state due to her still not picking a side on the identity issue with her partner so they were more focused on finding and yet not finding her partner then looking out for cinnamon roll models that kept sneaking up on her without meaning too.

“Hey Mari!”

The yowl she gave was loud, screechy, and just shy of glass breaking as she all but flung herself at her locker and had to fight down the urge to scale it and hide on top of it like her cat tendencies demanded. Instead, she flailed and flopped in an ungraceful heap on the floor, right at the feet of the slightly startled but still bemused blond that had tapped her on the shoulder. Green eyes met blue and both felt a shiver of deja vu before the sound of the warning bell broke them both out of the staring contest.

Adrien the eager to please puppy that he was, already picking up most of her fallen school supplies before she had managed to even roll over and off the floor. All neatly piled and ready for her to take as that fake model smile was dropped just a little lopsidedly when green eyes noticed no one really paying any attention to them. (Most students becoming deaf to this daily occurrence after the first two weeks.) It was almost like her partner’s smile and she really needs to learn impulse control because she did not just mess up the boy’s hair like that, oh god.

“One day sunshine you’re going to kill me with that sneak attack.”

Wait, did she just...and was _that pink on his cheeks_? That is illegal on so many levels. Damn his good looks making even a blush be that attractive.

“We can’t have that, Alya would kill me.”

“Damn right I would Agreste now help my girl off the floor before we’re all late.”

Well there was always tomorrow to break this habit, Marinette thought as Adrien easily pulled her back up on her feet, and still with that slightly lopsided smile, handed her her books and both walked to Alya and Nino and headed to class.


	19. The Care and Feeding of a Partner: Chat acts sly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being a thief and a teenager is hungry work. Chat takes offense no one else sees this with her partner. She'll fix it herself then.

It wasn’t hard to see how skinny her partner was, especially with how often they got knocked into one another or tackled one another out of harm's way during fights with warped guardians or possessed civilians. He wasn’t dangerously thin, at least not at the start, but months into their partnership and them all but cuddling when skulking on a roof to plan or watch a building had let her realize that he was somehow losing weight. When they finally started to talk in vague terms about their lives Chat saw red for a long while when she started putting the pieces together regarding why her partner was losing so much weight instead of gaining muscle mass like she had been doing steadily since this started.

She knew, logically, that her partner couldn’t tell his father about his time running on rooftops and fighting possessed objects and people, but emotionally she seethed and cursed this man for being so neglectful and apparently letting some hack of a doctor tell him this weight loss was natural and normal for whatever it was he did that needed him to be on some strict diet. (Considering the city they lived in there were a few jobs a teen could be in that would require such and all of them made her at times want to destroy the industry she had career goals in entering.)

She couldn’t though, so she did the next best thing.

It started during a particularly exhausting and long stakeout of an art gallery with a mish mash of architecture that made it a headache to map out and memorize for entry and exits. So because of how long they spent watching and mentally mapping the building she started to bring two thermos of tea and coffee, along with baked goods from her parents bakery. Things not easily missed since she always made certain to take items from the stash that hadn’t sold that day and would just be sent to the local homeless shelter.

After that heist she kept such up during their patrols, sparring sessions, and even those nights they met up just because they could. Slowly adding more items then just what she could get from the bakery but could still be carted around easily in a shoulder bag as they bounded across the skyline of Paris. After a while, when they started to really need permanent safe places for cleansing and to hide, she used their kwamis as an excuse for them to invest in non perishable food and water bottles in said places. After all if they had to out wait a police search while recharging their kwamis they might as well be able to feed themselves as well.

By the time school let out for the winter break her partner’s cheeks didn’t look as hollow as they had in the fall, by the new year when they met on top of Notre Dame she couldn’t feel his ribs as prominently anymore when she hugged him, as the fireworks went off and she hid a small, pleased grin into his shoulder.

She was too busy being smug to see the grateful and knowing look that was mixed in with the usual awe and adoration her partner had for her.


	20. Touch Starved: An acknowledgement of sorts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien/Red play "this is fine" as they start to realize how unhealthy of a home life they have is. (Sadrien returns)

Adrien had never actually thought of himself as starved for human interaction, that was until he met his partner and started public school. The romantic in him had first labeled the craving and shock at any touch from his cat as just the fact he had fallen in love at first sight. But, the first time his non masked best friend casually slung an arm over his shoulder and he felt the shock again, he started to realize.

Oh, there had been a lot of denial, because to admit to this meant having to think about other things that Nino complained about regarding his father and how his life was managed by him and Nathalie. It also would mean acknowledging and labeling whatever it was regarding his model diet that had sent his partner into her compulsion to feed him every time they met up.

Yet, over time when he had to be remeasured because he had not only gained some bulk but also height unexpectedly and thus a rework of his eating regimine when Nathalie had gotten a second opinion nutrition wise when he caved under her stare and admitted that a friend had been feeding him out of worry. (The former nutritionist was fired for not noticing the malnutrition that he had been suffering under and for a brief moment his father had emerged from his office and hovered awkwardly in some attempt at showing concern, before once more retreating into meetings and conference calls.) He couldn’t deny that his home life was not healthy in a lot of ways. Ways so many took for granted that he had to fight the urge not to be overwhelmed by.

Especially with touch.

He was moved around, poked, prodded, and staged physically by photographers, and the army of stylists needed for a shoot or runway. Yet, those moments of physical contact were always fleeting and almost clinical and cold; more so now that he had Nino’s easy friendship and Marinette’s quiet and sometimes sassy company to compare. His father’s employees seeming almost hesitant to touch him as if they would mess up some pricey article of clothing in a boutique if they did anything more then the bare minimum of physical interactions with him. A photo session now left him not only tired, but also emotionally drained because his heart had gotten a taste of positive physical contact and craved it during such times when he was isolated while surrounded by a mass of people.

It was even worse at home where the cold, echoing space of the mansion made a sharp reminder of how cage like his home was, and if it wasn’t for Tikki he likely would have gone insane before winter break. Faster if he also didn’t have his precious partner who somehow seemed to realize his clinginess wasn’t just him acting that way and indulged his need to physically anchor himself to her with physical affection. Even going as far as to initiate a lot of the contact herself like a cat indulging its owner. He didn’t know how she always knew and was just so grateful and in awe of this perfect lady that he was allowed to claim as a partner. (Even if in the back of his mind and the deeper parts of his heart there was a darker more possessive want for there to be more meaning behind the claim of his cat and her luck.)

He didn’t actively acknowledge such, because what could he do really, and as Tikki kept reminding him with her pep talks and constant affectionate nuzzling of her head into his cheek; in two years he didn’t have to remain tied down to this life. He could fly free then as his cat liked to say. 

Until then, he just pushed it to the back of his mind and smiled as he was taught. Ignoring how Nino would frown as he does and both Marinette and Chat would have the identical look of worry and steely determination as they all but let him destroy all personal space boundaries to just cling. 

It was enough for now, it would be enough.


	21. Flittering Thoughts: Nooroo Contemplates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nooroo gets to be happy, while still making us feel sad.

It had been an age, civilizations he had known gone and dust with so many others rising and falling in between, since the last time Nooroo had been actually free of the pain of his own sense of self being twisted and mangled by wielders that had been corrupted. Advancements of technology and the fading of magic things he had only gotten snatches of when a new holder had woken him up before they were ultimately struck down by chance or a hero, before darkness again. Even the safe haven that is the place between reality where he at least could have gone to see his fellow kwamis had been taken from him centuries past. Leaving him nothing but darkness and his own slightly fragmented thoughts as company.

He was able to see now, months after he had been found by a new pair claimed by Tikki and Plagg, how much it had also affect the others. Even if he had almost fizzed himself back into pure energy out of shock when he was finally touched without any pain. (Plagg’s newest chosen was truly and wonderfully gifted at knowing when and how to give and receive physical affection that Nooroo freely admits he still cries sometimes when she cradles him in a palm like he’s worth something.)

Tikki was always affectionate, Wayzz the worrier, Trixx and Plagg aloof and guarded but always there when you truly needed them. That had been what it was always meant to be, until he had gone silent as Trixx had put it. Gone from them and their circle like others before that had been lost for good. He could see in how they seemed to always keep him circled and guarded when they met in that space just for them. Hovering around him and mingling their energy with his much more freely then they had in the past, and he greedily took it all as he tried to find his center again and fix the broken pieces from so many wielders that had so much good in them that got ripped away by bitterness and loss.

Empathy was such a heavy burden to most humans.

That was actually the biggest reason why he kept quiet when Trixx and Wayzz mentioned that the Guardian was nearby, why he clung like a stubborn drop of dew to Plagg in gratitude when the embodiment of Bad Luck would grumble and hiss at such, saying they weren’t going to talk to Fu until they had a handle on the akuma problem. Why he would snuggle extra close to Tikki when she would laugh such off and say they won’t do so unless Nooroo and the kids wanted to. Why he soothed the more jagged emotions in Tikki’s new bug so his smile wasn’t so brittle when his father once again forgot about him, and delighted when he would take Nooroo over to the piano and play anything Nooroo wanted. It was why he kept the flowers that Plagg’s new cat tended healthy and blooming brighter and longer than they should when she would make things for him and curl him close to her collarbone as she stitched a new design.

Going back to Master Fu would mean healing but in sleep, where the world would be cut off from him again outside of what the others could tell him. A new holder would also help heal, but the risks were so great he was afraid to even think of such.

What if he picked the wrong person? What if he found the perfect human, but his abilities destroy them like it had that sweet artist so long ago that had created this spiral?

He was so ever grateful for the ones that had found him, and their understanding as he waved goodbye to Chat Noire before flitting to hide under Lucky Red’s top hat. Even if he never did find a new holder, for now he was happy. And everyone around him _wanted_ him to be happy, and that was such a priceless gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I technically have several pieces that will move this forward time wise and will post them, but I also have started framing out in my mind the second section of this series (along with a general idea of a third installment). However, the big catch in this is that to start posting the second installment now would spoil some aspects I haven't covered in this section yet.
> 
> To put it better, the second of the series is basically a crossover, where I want to play with the "safe haven" space aspect of what these cursed objects create and have one lead to the "canon" Miraculous world and thus having thieves meet superheroes, and the only way the thieves can go home is to basically set the canon pair up into being able to find and take on Hawkmoth (or help them do that still debating that.) The thing is, in that timeline the thieves are going to be several years older then the canon heroes, and even older then they are in this installment. This also means they would be further along in their "plotline" then I am currently at right now in posting chapters, thus would give things away if I start that adventure now instead of waiting.
> 
> So I ask you guys, should I wait until I've hit the major points in this story that would pop there before going ahead, or should I just post and leave a "Enter at your own peril" type warning regarding such?


End file.
